If you’re curious about cryptocurrency, or eager to buy your first Bitcoin, we’re here to help.

Cryptocurrency is the ultimate free market. The whole concept was built from the ground up to be flexible, anonymous, and secure.

Instead of government regulators making decisions, cryptocurrency creators spent time thinking about what would bring the biggest benefit to consumers like you.

What Is The Blockchain?

In Simple terms, Blockchain allows two parties or 'peer to peer' to do business with one-another without the need of a trusted third party.

Similar to emails, information can be sent from one address to another. The information, for example, could be a patients health records, a store of value, or a beneficiary’s ID.

On the Blockchain an identical record of all messages is available to all participants, this is called a ‘Node’.

The amount of copies of this data on the Blockchain makes it incredibly difficult for an attacker to manipulate transactions or falsify records. With these records also being unchangeable it makes for a much more secure network than traditional centralised systems.

Pseudonymity

Everyone who uses cryptocurrency has a unique identifier, but that identifier isn’t tied to your name and address. But Bitcoin, and a lot of other cryptocurrencies, take it one step further.

Your unique address, called a key, can be changed for every single transaction you make. It only takes a few clicks to setup a new key and you’re ready to buy or sell anywhere in the world.

Wallets

Managing all of those keys by yourself might be hard, so cryptocurrencies use wallets to help you stay on top of it. A cryptocurrency wallet is just a collection of keys unique to you. In a very real way, it’s where your money is stored.

There are dozens of options available for ways to keep your wallet safe and secure. Everything from passwords and encryption to dedicated hardware devices.

With cryptocurrency, if you want your privacy, you can have it easily -- and you can have security too.

Blockchain solves the problem of manipulation. When I speak about it in the West, people say they trust Google, Facebook, or their banks. But the rest of the world doesn’t trust organizations and corporations that much. I mean Africa, India, the Eastern Europe, or Russia. It’s not about the places where people are really rich. Blockchain’s opportunities are the highest in the countries that haven’t reached that level yet. I think the technology, if we do it right, may go in history books. Thanks to blockchain, many countries may rapidly develop their infrastructure.

— Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum Creator

Secure transactions

Blockchain technology is used by a global network of computers to manage cryptocurrency transactions on a database. Meaning cryptocurrencies are managed by its own network, and not buy any central governing authority. Cryptocurrencies are decentralized which allows the network to operate on a peer-to-peer basis.

Cryptocurrency transactions, especially ones that make use of a blockchain, are incredibly secure. Most systems don’t use a central server, instead every user on the network has a copy of every transaction ever made.

There’s no way to edit a file and give yourself more money, and no way to take it away forcibly from someone else, because every time a transaction is made the distributed network compares thousands of ledgers and anything that doesn’t add up is ignored.

Some currencies are making those transactions even easier and more reliable than using a credit card.

Smart Contracts

Some cryptocurrency transactions can be programmed to be carried out automatically, using smart contracts. These flexible financial tools automate payments based on an enforceable agreement.

For instance, imagine you’re buying stock. You might call your broker and tell him to buy at a certain price point. You can automate the entire process using a smart contract, and even include a penalty clause if your broker isn’t quick on the trigger.